Wednesday, September 4, 2013

WIP Wednesday & giveaway winners

Greetings folks! Its a beautiful day here :) I am finally caught up on my backlog of things that I couldn't do last week because I didn't have internet, and my desk is slowly being unpacked and organized :)

Unfortunately I haven't done much sewing since I've been so busy at work, but I did finally get started on my Penny Sampler. The first month's lessons are applique blocks. I had the impression that applique was going to be difficult, but it's super easy :) Roxanne's glue baste really does make the job easier.

Rachel introduced us to two applique methods -- stitch and turn (which I am using for my Dogwood Blossoms), and freezer paper. These blocks were made with the freezer paper method. It was much easier than I anticipated. I even made my own liquid starch to use instead of paying $12 for Best Press at my Local Quilt shop.

heart quartet block, sketch stitch applique

I really love my heart quartet block. I think there is going to be quite a bit of DS fabrics sneaking their way into my quilt :)

sketch stitch close-up

It took me several tries to get the hang of the sketch stitch. And my machine did not like the iron on stabilizer even though I was using a brand new needle. So I opted to skip the stabilizer and just take it slow around the curves. I didn't really like it at first, but I think it's growing on me now.

Single heart block, sketch stitch applique

I opted for a little bolder of a look for the single heart since it's all by it's lonesome in the bottom of the finished quilt. I actually did this block after the heart quartet, so the sketch stitch turned out better.

Mitten Block, blanket stitch applique

I opted for a blanket stitch for the mitten after seeing Laura's adorable block :) You can see my mistake in tracing the template around the thumb where I almost cut the block out backwards... This is why you measure (read) twice, cut once right...

And here are the blocks in the quilt so far. I saw people doing a grid for Tula Pink's city sampler, so I decided to try it for this too :)

I'm going to try to catch up with the rest of the blocks this week. I'm a week and a half (7 blocks) behind right now, and the little village promises to be time consuming.

I love how you are doing the grid for this Sampler, we can see the quilt grow with you :) I would have like to join this one, but I have too much on my quilting plate - perhaps I can play catch-up next year ...

Shhh don't tell anyone but I'm not using stabilizer either. I think it's possible I would need it if I had a different machine but mine seems not to make material pucker like it supposedly does and my sketch stitch (once I worked out my brain block idiocy issues) looks fine without it. And I stirred up a little cornstarch and water too. (Joann's is actually a torture errand now that my kid's legs are so long they don't fit in those little half-shopping-carts.) Your blocks look fabulous! I kind of heart that Chicopee print with the PB&J background. That's a fun, unexpected combo!

Love them all! I'm using the stabilizer for all mine but i've yet to try Roxannes glue baste. Is it worth picking some up do you think? And I made my own starch too, just couldn't justify the price for something i could make!